Cold Spots in Summer
by Colt
Summary: It's only for two months, Nico tells himself. Only two months living by himself in a crappy hotel room before he can move into a real apartment and end his perpetual homelessness. And its not so bad, the hotel room comes with wifi, a microwave, and a resident blonde ghost who won't leave him alone. (Jasico, with one-sided Pernico)
1. Chapter 1

Light roused him. Nico shifted for a moment, then jerked awake with a start. He blinked gritty eyes as the dimmed lights got brighter. A theater attendant stood awkwardly a few steps into his row, as if trying to decide whether to say something.

Nico stared at the screen as the pre-pre-credits for the next movie started and couldn't even remember what the second film of the double feature had been listed as. The attendant hesitantly cleared her throat.

So Nico stretched his cramped legs, kicking the overstuffed knapsack by his feet. He gathered it up and his jacket that had slipped from his shoulders during his sleep. He mumbled something about a boring show as he passed the poor girl.

He stumbled out into the early afternoon, passing eager movie goers lining up for the feature films. Nico checked his phone, realizing he got about four hours of sleep in between the back to back movies.

He also had two voice mails.

"Nico! Nico! Pick up the phone. Its your sister so pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Wait this isn't an out loud answering machine." Nico snorted as he walked and listened. "Okay so. My contract expires in two months. I cannot wait to get out of here - whoever thought all female-dorms was a good idea was obviously male. Frank and I found this awesome little two bed two bath place that opens around that time so if you wanna go see it later this week we can. Call me. Me is your sister. Whom you never call. Okay bye."

Nico shook his head and played the next message as he turned for the bus station. "Hello, this message is for Mr. Di Angelo from Stay Time Suites. We processed your payment, and your room is ready for you today. Thank you for choosing Stay Time Suites as your long-ter-"

A boy ran through Nico, and Nico became paralyzed with heart-pounding fear that wasn't his. Someone slammed hard into his shoulder, snapping about taking up the sidewalk, but he couldn't move.

He could only watch as the boy, glowing bright blue in the afternoon sun, was pursued by other, vaguer features that flickered in and out. The boy ran from them, turning into the street as his glow grew brighter -

Then he was doubled over, a car flickered blue in and out of existence, and the glowing boy was suddenly ten feet down the road.

"Dude you dropped your phone," someone called to Nico. The glow died out in a crumpled pile on the pavement. There was nothing he could do.

"Thanks," Nico wheezed, fumbling for a moment to grasp it with shaking fingers. He turned away from where there was nothing now, where nothing was a few seconds ago.

Only Nico saw it. Only Nico ever saw it.

He preferred the happy ones.

He regained himself except for shaking fingers as he double-checked the address on his phone against the bus station route on the wall. He found the right bus port, and had calmed his hands by the time the bus arrived. The bad emotions always lingered far longer than the good ones.

He opened the personal map app on his phone and marked the location in red. Another place to avoid. The map was littered with notes, moments frozen in time.

When he got on the bus he sunk low in his seat and put in headphones. He shut his eyes so he wouldn't see the flickers of blue as the bus drove right through them.

Nico figured he would never be able to drive. He remembered Bianca gripping his wrist tightly as the social worker drove through people only they could see. "Ignore them," she had plead desperately. "Please ignore them Nico. They can't do anything to us." And he couldn't do anything to them. The ghosts never acknowledged the living.

Nico burrowed deeper into the collar of his jacket, and filled his mind by mentally repeating the music lyrics.

He tried to straighten his lanky black hair a bit before picking up his room key. The advertisements attempted to make the long-stay hotel seem legit, but the clerk didn't even ask for an ID. She pointed at a vague map and mentioned they had wi-fi and a pool, which Nico had to walk around to find his room. He ignored the glowing couple in the water, so entangled in their embrace that Nico couldn't tell exactly where one began and the other ended. They were outside. He could deal with that, and never go swimming.

He wasn't expecting much, and the double bed room met it. The only marked difference between this extended stay suite and a cheap hotel room was the presence of a fridge and microwave.

He unpacked into the drawers of a battered standing wardrobe and hid his laptop and an old GameBoy under the mattress of the spare bed. He didn't trust the once a week cleaning staff.

One old blanket, a single picture frame, a pack of cards, and a few small figures later, he threw his empty knapsack in the bottom of the wardrobe and flopped backwards onto the bed. He took in the entire room, in all its yellow light glory. It was crap, but it was his for two months until he moved in with Hazel and her boyfriend.

Someone stepped through the closed bathroom door.

Nico groaned. "No. No!" He sat up and angrily pointed a finger at the figure glowing in front of the mirror, a young man with short cropped blonde hair looking at himself. "Is it so bad to ask for just one piece of my life to be free of you?"

Nico could see through him to the mirror so he was looking at the ghost looking at himself. "Why would this place be your strong memory? Who would be a ghost in thisshithole?!"

The figure blinked, and suddenly he wasn't look at his reflection but the reflection of Nico through it, bright blue eyes widening. "Can you-"

Nico froze.

The ghost turned and looked directly at Nico. "Can you see me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Nico found himself somewhere between near death and a bed-wetting experience. The ghost blinked out and reappeared, brighter and more opaque, leaning over him on the bed forcing Nico back on his elbows. He was so close Nico could make out some kind of tattoo on his arm under the glowing haze.

"You, right there. You can see me?"

Nico meant to say something but a hysterical laugh bubbled out instead. He collapsed back on the bed. "I've lost it. I've finally lost it."

The ghost somehow had the gall to look off-put. "Hey! I am right here, you know!"

"I know! But none of you have ever talked back before! If ghosts start talking to me I have officially gone crazy!"

The figure of a boy leaned back, slumping his see-through shoulders. "So it's true." He gave a strange sigh laced with resignation. "I... I am a ghost."

Nico blinked, and looked up. "Wait, you didn't know...?"

"Am I supposed to?" The blonde ghost's voice was bitter as he looked at himself, his glow fainter.

Nico felt the hysteria bubbling up again and tried to squash it. He rolled off the bed away from the ghost and moved to the door, throwing it open and pointing out at the dimly lit figures wrapped around each other. "Them - see them? They've been like that. They'll be like that. They just are."

The specter of a boy squinted, then frowned. "I see the pool."

"But not the two glowing people playing tonsil hockey in the shallow end?"

The ghost shook his head.

Nico wanted to slam his forehead on the railing. He settled for resting against it.

"I'm Jason," was offered behind him.

"I'm not talking to you," Nico hissed.

"Why not?" The self-proclaimed Jason seemed to find this slightly funny.

"Because you aren't supposed to talk! You aren't supposed to even acknowledge me!"

"How do you know what ghosts are and aren't supposed to do?" Jason floated around and crouched so his face was below Nico's, and his body half hanging through the railing. "Are you some kind of expert?"

Nico scowled and abruptly went back inside, shutting the door quickly. For all the good it did. Jason walked right through it after him.

"Hey come on, please-" Jason reached like he could grab Nico's arm.

Nico recoiled as if burned. "Don't touch me! Don't ever, ever touch me!"

Jason blinked out and back in with a surprised face, hands slowly raising. Nico could see straight through his palms. "If I promise not to touch, will you give me your name?"

Nico didn't answer. He flung himself on the bed, and covered his face with a pillow, like that would somehow block out everything. Or maybe he was attempting to smother himself. He wasn't sure yet.

"Look, try and see it my way," Jason started. "I've been like this for who knows how long with no one to talk to. Please?" The pillow smelled musty. "Come on, I'm lonely."

Nico slowly flipped up the pillow and looked at Jason, taking in the messy hair and a lip scar and ragged hems of his jeans. "...Nico."

"Nico," Jason repeated, with a smile.

"Don't touch me," Nico warned. Jason shrugged.

"I wasn't going to anyways."

Nico wondered about going down to the front office and requesting a different room, but vacancy had seemed slim. And what would he say, my room is haunted?

"How can you see me anyway?" Jason asked. Nico glared at him. "I said I wouldn't touch you, I didn't say I wouldn't talk to you."

"I'm going to work," Nico declared as if aloud to himself, getting up and fetching his jacket.

"Ugh, fine, ignore me." Jason flickered out, but didn't reappear again.

Nico still left, taking his Gameboy and mp3 player with him.

He was super early, but didn't care. He got off the bus a station too soon to get McDonald's, and walked the rest of the way to the dog daycare and grooming.

The door jingled as he opened it. "Welcome to Whiskers and Tai-" The front desk girl looked up and smiled when she saw him. "-Hey Nico."

"Hey Silena." She unlocked the front desk, and Nico lifted the counter hinge himself and relocked it on the other side. He could hear the barking already.

"Oh, you have two cats 'til the end of the week," Silena tilted her head to the board listing the overnight stays.

"Okay." He inhaled more of his milkshake before heading in the back, where the employee area was separated from the dog runs by a wall. Dogs were already causing a ruckus.

Nico finished his first burger and some fries, putting the second in the fridge for later.

"Clocking in early?" The dog groomer and co-owner Clarisse had emerged from the salon, dog hair still covering her clothes and boots. Dog hair clung to everything here - caught in clumps along the fences of the dog runs, worked into the cracks in the concrete floor, rolling along like little tumbleweeds. It wasn't like it was unclean - just no matter how much anyone swept, there was always more.

"If that's okay."

She nodded, removing her smock and hollering, "Silena. Wanna duck out early?"

"Dinner?" Silena called back.

Nico rolled his eyes and clocked in. They didn't technically close for another half an hour, but he started his cleaning duties. He heard them call a goodbye as he finished sweeping the salon, and moved to the front desk area. He had finished restocking their tiny store of dog collars and leashes and some of Silena's homemade dog treats and bows when he almost ran into Jason.

"This is where you work?" Jason asked innocently, sitting on the counter and throwing blue light across the register.

"What the hell!"

Jason inspected the hanging dog tees like he didn't hear. " 'Some days are Ruff'...cute."

Nico scowled as he twisted the door lock, not caring he was a few minutes early, and flipped the Open sign to Closed. "How are you here?" he hissed, quickly shutting the front blinds. Now the room was dimly lit blue.

"I followed you," Jason replied easily.

"You can move around?!"

Jason looked back at him with a grin. "So are you talking to me now?"

Nico wanted to glare again but felt like he was being teased. He went around through the grooming salon to the back, avoiding the counter where Jason sat. He started his rounds on the animals, cleaning up a few messes in the group dog run. Seven overnight dogs happily greeted him, three ghost dogs continued to play.

"What are you looking at?" Jason was there, his jeans and t-shirt changed out for a smock and scrub pants like Clarisse had been wearing.

"You can change your clothes?" Nico demanded before remembering he wasn't talking to Jason.

Jason shrugged, and with a flicker he was back in his own clothes. "With some concentration."

Nico noticed the dogs had all shifted to behind him. One big black dog whined. "Hey, hey it's okay Mrs. O'Leary." Nico knelt to scratch her under her chin. "Good girl."

"So you'll talk to dogs over me."

"You're scaring them," Nico realized aloud.

"What?" Jason looked confused.

"You're scaring the dogs." Nico frowned and looked over at the ghost dogs. Two were gone, but Nico knew they'd be back later. It was an inconsistent loop. They'd lop along and jump and silently bark just the same as they did every time.

He didn't mind them. Dogs only seemed to be happy. Most animals seemed to only be happy, or at least not dwell on the bad stuff enough to leave an impression.

"What does that mean?" Jason asked, walking through the gate of the run so he was farther away.

"I don't know." The dogs seemed to relax a bit. Nico watched them for a moment, and figured they couldn't see Jason but definitely felt his presence.

"I thought you were an expert on this stuff."

Nico shook his head. "I avoid it." He scratched Mrs. O'Leary's ear. "Percy says hi, old girl."

He finally stood up and Jason was watching him. "How do you avoid it when you see it?" Jason mused aloud. "And why work here? You'd make a killing as one of those medium psychic people."

Nico snorted as he let himself out of the dog run and relatched it behind him. He went to start filling dog bowls with food their owners had brought for their dinner. "People want to talk to the dead. Thing is, the dead don't talk back." He glanced at Jason, who was inspecting the line of sheds they used for cat houses along the wall. "Well, usually."

"So what do they usually do?" Jason looked through one of the plastic windows. "Hey kitty." He recoiled from the window. "It hissed."

Maybe cats didn't like ghosts either. "You do nothing. Or. Well. You loop."

"Loop?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. Like a short movie clip or a gif from the internet. The same moment, over and over. Not consistently. Some loop more frequently than others." Nico nodded over to the corner that was empty to everyone but him as he opened a can of expensive dog food for a Dalmatian. "There's one dog that just… is there. All the time. The others come and go."

"Like the moment you die?"

Nico remembered the specter from earlier that day, getting hit by the car. "Sometimes."

"What do you mean sometimes?"

Nico slammed the dog food can down on the table. "Look, I don't know! I don't think about it, much less talk about it! Aren't I crazy enough without having to explain why I'm crazy?"

Jason looked at Nico as if thoughtfully. "I'm trying to understand," Jason said slowly. "Mostly because I'm…like this. But I'm also curious. And-" He gave Nico a look he supposed was meant to be meaningful. "Doesn't it help to talk to someone about it?"

Nico snorted, dumping out cups of dry food into the other bowls. "For all I know, you're just a figment of my imagination that has finally gotten way too out of hand."

Jason moved to lean against the cubby cabinet of the dog supplies and went through it. He straightened back up. "If I'm just a figment of your imagination, then you're just talking to yourself, right?"

Nico picked a tuff of dog hair off his jeans and thought about that. "I guess."

"So then it's fine to talk to me, right?"

Nico groaned, and secretly thought Jason was way too talkative to be any part of his own mind.

_**Author's Note:** This information may work it's way into the story later as well, but at the moment I have no reason/plans to include it, so this is just in case people were wondering. What Nico sees is considered to be a legit type of haunting - It's called the Residual Energy Theory, or "Stone Tape Theory" or "Place Memories"._

_Supposedly, since humans are beings made of energy, we constantly emit that energy into the environment around us. If an energy level is high enough, usually from strong emotions, it makes a sort of recording onto the environment that plays back. Like a tape recording. And certain stones are attributed to holding greater amounts of that energy, where the nickname "Stone Tape" comes from. So not necessarily a ghost, but an energy signature that can be perceived later in time. Place Memory is when a person's memory is so strongly associated to a specific place that they attach to it and can cause others to have images of that memory. They're all considered "non-intelligent hauntings" because they do not interact with living people or the current environment, but the environment as it was when their energy signature was left._

_It's used to explain why if you go into a home where someone died, people say that they can feel it or why some places feel "happy" or "sad". Because the environment soaked up that energy and is emitting it back._


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey, thanks guys for hanging with me on this and it's "Whatever, whenever" updates. Remember, you can also find this cross-posted to AO3. Later days!_

**Chapter Three**

The loud buzzer from the front door stirred Nico from his staring daze. He blinked a moment, looking down at the purring cat sprawled in his lap he had been absentmindedly petting. He moved the cat back towards the freshly filled food bowl and fumbled with the inside latch of the cat cabin. Another round of prolonged buzzing made Nico frown.

"I'm _coming_." He took his time latching the outside of the door of the cat cabin and heading to the front shop. Octavian looked past the closed sign at him, scowling.

Octavian shoved right past Nico after he opened the door. "Were you sleeping?" he demanded.

"No," Nico deadpanned. He relocked the front door and followed the blonde back to the employee area.

Jason reappeared beside the couch and frowned as the newcomer sneered, "Did you even do any of the morning duties, McEmo Pants?"

"So who's this asshole?" Jason asked.

"They're all finished, _Octavian_," Nico answered both. "Don't have to get yourself dirty. I even fixed your computer error from yesterday – you put the double discount in our records but had the owner's invoice charged full price for those two cats."

"Whoops." Octavian threw his drink bottle towards the trash can, and missed. Nico glared, scooped the bottle up and dropped it into the recycling bin on the other side. "Are you hung over? Your eyes are red and baggy."

"I didn't sleep well last night," Nico retorted, feeling a headache forming from just speaking to his coworker. He spent his entire graveyard shift fielding or avoiding Jason's questions. _So is it more Poltergist or Ghostbusters? Haven't seen either. Why not? Because._

After dinner he had thrown the dog beds and blankets into the run for them to sleep on, taken care of the cats in their little house, then settled himself on the employee couch around eleven and played on his Gameboy. Jason hung around on the second couch, which had less dog hair in the seams, but smelled too much of men's bodyspray. Nico assumed Jason didn't smell it.

"Why work here?"

Nico looked up from the latest mission in Shibuya, and shrugged. "Clarisse and Silena value work, neither of them judge. Overnight shift gave me a place to sleep." Jason regarded Nico for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to say. He didn't.

Instead he tried to reach for the TV remote, his hand passing through it and the couch arm. Jason sighed, flexing his fingers.

"So am I going to… cross over or anything?" Jason asked. "Do I have to do something?"

Nico bit his bottom lip and looked back at the tiny screen. "I don't know," he admitted.

"How can you not know?"

"Because I _don't_."

Jason just looked at him, and Nico determinately concentrated on his game. "…Yeah." The reflection of his blue glow flickered out.

After Jason made his exit, Nico passed the night in silence, tapping away on his Gameboy. Jason followed around after him while he did morning chores, with only a pleasant good morning greeting. Nico felt uncomfortable, and escaped into the cat cabin for a moment of privacy. He maybe had almost dozed off in there, but even a furry friend wasn't enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

Octavian made a show out of leaning over to inspect the dog runs, and Nico rolled his eyes. Two of the ghost dogs were playing again.

"What are you waiting for?" Octavian asked briskly. "You can go now."

"Uhhh… my shift isn't over for another fifteen minutes?" Nico busied himself with replacing the washed and dried dog bowls onto the shelves.

"Seriously what's his problem," Jason grumbled, and Nico's phone chose that time to buzz.

Hazel (8:45 AM): HEY LISTEN, HEY, HEY, HEY LISTEN

Hazel (8:45 AM): Frank's buying breakfast this morning, wanna go get some bacon with us and put ourselves in an early grave Mmmm bacon

Nico smiled and replied ' I could go for bacon. Just gotta go change and shower. Dog smell and all.'

Octavian had vanished somewhere by the front, and Hazel replied with a diner near his work just before Nico clocked out and gathered his jacket.

Hazel (8:58 AM): And just come as you are we don't mind

Hazel (8:58 AM): It'll take too long and I have news to share

Hazel (8:59 AM): !

Nico paused long enough to blow his clothes as free of dog hair as he could with the high velocity dryer. It just rolled off him and joined the other clumps he had either missed during cleaning or had formed overnight. He didn't bother yelling goodbye to Octavian as he left, leaving the door unlocked behind him.

"Aren't you hot, always wearing that jacket?"

Nico shrugged and pushed his hands deeper into the pockets.

"Where are we going?" Jason asked, moving alongside Nico. He was moving his legs, but he kind of faded out before his ankles so Nico wasn't sure if he was walking on the sidewalk, above it, or somewhere below it.

"_I'm_ going to breakfast with my sister," Nico replied under his breath, glancing to see if someone was near to see him talking to himself. "And her long-term boyfriend."

Jason didn't seemed fazed and kept pace with him. "You don't need to follow me around, right?" Nico asked, raising his eyebrow. "It's not like you're haunting _me_."

He spotted another flutter of blue across the street behind Jason and quickly looked the other way. Jason glanced over with interest, but saw nothing.

"There must be a reason you can see me." Nico glared at him. "Okay, okay, a reason I must be able to talk to you," Jason quickly changed his statement.

"I can't help you."

Jason shrugged with one shoulder, the motion so strangely human Nico felt off-centered by it.

The diner had several morning patrons already. Nico tried to brush his clothes as clean of dog hair as he could, feeling self conscious as he entered the diner's foyer. Hazel waved enthusiastically, as if Nico couldn't spot them from outside. Hazel turned to the seater and said something as Nico approached.

"Hey Nico," Frank greeted.

"Morning." Nico did an awkward flap with his hands still in his jacket pockets. Hazel took it as an invitation for a hug and rushed to accept it, gently beaming.

"I think I'm taller than you!" Hazel exclaimed, measuring herself against head.

"Hair doesn't count," Nico said as the seater asked them to follow her, holding three menus, including a children's menu and crayons. Frank and Hazel automatically sat on one side of the booth and Nico slipped in on the other side. Then Jason walked through the divider and settled himself next to Nico as if it were expected. Nico shifted over subtly, hoping Frank and his sister didn't think it was odd he didn't sit in the middle of the seat.

"Children's menu?" the seater asked, and Hazel raised her hand eagerly. She broke open the crayon packet immediately and set upon the children's menu.

"So, you found the apartment?" Nico asked as they unrolled their silverware, Frank doing Hazel's for her. Frank didn't even seem to think twice about it, and Nico was a little jealous of that strange casualness their relationship had.

"You're going to love it, Nico," Hazel said warmly as she drew some horses on the children's menu. "It has a porch, two bedrooms, two full bathrooms – I figured Frank and I could take the master bedroom and bath and then the second bath would just be yours, like a private one, since it's got a second door to your room… Or would be your room," she amended hastily. "If you like it."

Nico smiled weakly. "Sounds great."

The waitress appeared then, hands resting casually in her apron pockets. "Welcome guys. Can I start you off with some drinks?"

"Hot chocolate," Hazel replied immediately. "With cinnamon." Nico's mouth twitched in amusement at the hot drink during summer while Frank ordered orange juice.

"Coke, please," Nico said.

"Alright, be right back for your orders." The waitress sauntered off.

"Soda for breakfast?" Frank made a face. Nico shrugged, resting his elbows on the table.

Hazel had sketched out the floorplan of the apartment in the meantime, and eagerly pointed out the spacious living room and the dining area across from the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Nico tried to summon enthusiasm, but his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

They ordered breakfast when the waitress returned, including an extra order of bacon to 'share', and Hazel excused herself to the ladies' room.

Which left Nico awkwardly alone with his sister's boyfriend.

"So…" Frank cleared his throat. "You really okay with moving in with us?"

Nico busied himself with rearranging the condiment carrier. "Yeah," he replied vaguely, his head feeling heavy. "I mean, mutually beneficial and all. Cheaper rent all the way around."

"If you're uncomfortable with this – " Frank started.

"No, no." Nico glanced up at him from under his dark hair. "I just ah… y'know. Anything for Hazel." He knew Hazel and Frank couldn't afford even a one bedroom by themselves at this stage. And it would be cheaper to rent the place with them than shuffling from hostel to hotels to bus stations.

Nico wouldn't really know what to do with a disposable income.

"There's a gym," Frank offered, like that somehow made a difference to Nico. "And since Hazel and I are going to buy a bigger bed, I was thinking you could take my twin. Unless you have a bed already."

"Uh, no. I need one. Mine… came with my place." Not a lie. Technically.

"They don't know you're living in the Happiness Hotel, do they?"

Nico jumped at Jason's voice, having completely forgotten he was sitting there. Or hovering, more accurately. Frank was looking for Hazel behind him and didn't notice.

"Oh god, please tell me you know that reference or I'm going to feel old. Or crazy." Jason groaned, one hand mussing up the front of his blue-glowing hair. "I didn't die THAT long ago."

"_The Muppet Movie_," Nico muttered under his breath. Hazel bounced back into her seat at the same time, and looked curiously at him.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Nothing," Nico said quickly. "But hey, the apartment sounds great."

Hazel beamed, and continued to talk about amenities including a dog park – apparently Frank was an animal person – until their food arrived. They busied themselves with the clink of silverware on plates for a while, Frank devouring his stack of pancakes in the time it took Nico to fill each hole in his waffle individually with syrup and eat half of it.

"I can't tell if you're OCD or just a perfectionist," Jason teased. Nico ignored him. His eyes were starting to ache.

"Oh yeah, I had news to share!" Hazel slapped her hand on the table, and smiled widely. "Percy and Annabeth are getting married!"

Nico knocked over his soda.

Everyone at the table jumped, as Nico blurted, "Sorry!" Their hands flew to grab napkins and scoop up ice quickly, and somewhere the waitress descended with a towel and a cool dismissal as Nico stammered another apology. Frank moved the plate of bacon to safety, priorities, but Hazel's child menu doodles were considered as a lost cause. After his soda was replaced and Nico was half hiding his face behind his hand, Hazel continued.

"So yeah, Percy popped the question and everything."

"Did he ask her father?" Frank asked in what was an attempt at being casual, but Hazel didn't notice.

"Oh no way, I think Annabeth would roast him alive, her decision and all, not her dad's." Hazel looked down at her new doodle, quickly adding, "Not that there's anything wrong with asking the dad. I mean, it's an old-fashioned courtesy and all, but I think it's considerate."

"Yeah," Frank said absent-mindedly, obviously not having heard any of that.

Jason looked from one to the other, then to Nico and mouth 'Woooow' with exaggeration. Nico tried not to snicker and hid it behind his glass.

"They don't know when it's going to be yet, but Annabeth wanted the word spread. So 'save the date' as they say." Hazel tried to shade with the cheap crayons, snapping one in half. Nico propped his face on his hands, toying with his straw in his mouth as he watched her draw for a while, more mesmerized than he probably should have been.

"Are you gonna eat your hash browns?" Frank asked Nico. He shook his head and pushed the plate over. "Thanks."

"So did you want to go see the new apartment?" Hazel asked hopefully, but before he could answer, she frowned. "Are you feeling okay, Nico?"

"Yeah."

Hazel's hand still went to Nico's forehead, and he flushed a bit at the familiar gesture. "You look a little run-down," she observed.

"Just tired," he reassured her. "Long night at work."

She nodded. "Maybe the apartment should wait for another day…" Nico silently agreed. He didn't really care to see it, a bed was a bed and its location was a really low priority on his list. But it made Hazel happy. He'd agree to an apartment overlooking the River Styxx.

So they planned for another day, and after turning down the offer of a ride, Nico headed to the bus stop.

"So that's your sister." Jason hovered in place next to Nico as he slouched on the bench.

"Yeah…" Percy was getting _married_… He shoved the thought from his mind.

"I thought that picture on your nightstand was your sister."

"…Different sister." Nico hunched further down into his jacket, cold despite the heat of the day encroaching. Jason had to call his name twice when the bus arrived.

Jason was silent for the bus ride, flickering out after a while. Nico leaned against the window, his eyelids dragging heavy. He just need to go change so he didn't smell like dogs, then he could go find a theater…

He was nearly sleep-walking as he dragged to his feet and got off the bus, crossed the street, and headed past the reception building to the long row of rooms. He was fairly surprised he didn't get hit by a car. "Hey Nico?"

Nico grunted as he fumbled up the stairs to his floor.

"So… I was thinking… My sister…" Jason paused and seemed to be preparing himself as Nico dug out his room key. "Could you, find her? And give her a message?"

It took the half moment while Nico unlocked the door to realize what Jason had asked. Nico turned to him with a start.

"I just want her to know what happened, and that it – "

"_No_!"

Jason jerked back in surprise, his blue glow sparking brighter. "What?"

"No, no, NO! I spend my whole life _avoiding_ this shit!" Nico could hear the edge of hysteria in his voice and was too far gone to care. "I won't be your ghost whisperer!"

"Nico," Jason began, hands raising in a way that screamed 'whoa calm down'.

"If you want to pass on messages, then go find some psycho psychic medium to do it!"

Nico slammed the door before Jason could even respond, flung himself on the bed, and covered his head with a pillow. When he descended into nightmares, he wasn't surprised at all.


	4. Chapter 4

_For those who wondered, yes, I lived in this described dump for a few months and worked this job. Not at the same time, but. Drawn from real life experience here._

**Chapter Four**

When Nico woke up, startled by someone shouting from nightmares of fevered illness and screaming, he wanted to barf. He waited a few moments while he willed his stomach calm, listening to someone in a neighboring room yelling about money and being lazy. His head throbbed dully.

Once he knew his stomach would hold he looked around for Jason, but there was no blue glow. Good. His phone told him it was still early afternoon, and he figured he had time to put something in his fridge. He looked up a nearby grocery store and went to buy some canned soup, microwave burritos, and pop-tarts. A soda nursed away his headache, and for the hundredth time Nico contemplated kicking his caffeine habit.

Jason didn't appear when he got back, took a shower, or when he left for work with a pop-tart in his mouth. He hoped the ghost boy finally left for wherever he should be.

Of course, Nico figured the fates hated him.

The night shift had passed as quietly as it could when dogs were involved. An employee called out ill, so Nico agreed to extend his shift until Clarrise and Silena arrived. He was certain his life had returned to its weirdly somber normalcy as he enter his hotel room and began to strip off his dirty clothes, ready for the day off ahead.

Then Jason flickered in front of him. Nico swallowed down a yelp but couldn't stop his reflex to jump back as he yanked his pants back up. "Don't DO that!"

Jason sheepishly held up his hands. "Sorry, I can't help it. I just... Appear here when I stop thinking."

"So don't stop thinking," Nico ordered crossly. Of course Jason had to reappear.

"It's harder than you'd think. Sometimes I just... Blank out. And come to here." Jason rubbed at the back of his neck and sighed.

"Blank out?"

"Well if I stop concentrating or whatever, but sometimes even when I am focusing on where I am, I like... Fade?" Jason frowned. "And then come to later here. With time missing."

Nico shivered as he thought about that, hands moving for the pockets of his jacket he had already taken off. "When that happens, where do you go?"

Jason tried to settle on the spare bed, one leg in the mattress but he didn't seem to notice. "Nowhere. It's nothing at all. Like when you fall asleep and don't dream and just wake up, and all you know is that you were asleep."

Bianca's screams filled Nico's mind. Nowhere. Nothing. The words hung on Nico's mind as Jason voiced his thoughts.

"Sometimes I wonder if that's the other side -"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Nico turned away abruptly.

"...dude, you were the one who asked..." But it sounded like a coaxing instead of a reprimand. Nico wiped at his eyes and tried to repeat song lyrics in his head to cover up the pained screams.

"Stay out of the bathroom." Nico kept his back to Jason as he went for clean clothes. Well, cleaner clothes. He surveyed his meager T-shirt collection and realized his day off would be spent doing laundry.

He sighed, and showered quickly. The hotel room shampoo felt gross in his hands and the drain was slow, so he didn't want to linger long. Plus the creeping feeling of a stranger in the other room wouldn't let him relax.

Nico firmly reminded himself that Jason was a ghost - dead and gone and couldn't do anything to him.

...except annoy.

"Is this Pokemon?" Jason asked with interest, looking at the bundled cards Nico left out. Nico huffed as he left the bathroom barefoot and hair still damp.

"Its Mythomagic."

"I've played Pokemon."

Nico threw some clothes into his duffle, planning to go use the hotel's laundry room. He still had a roll of quarters left over in his bag.

"Will you teach me how to play?" Jason asked.

"How would you hold the cards?" Nico didn't turn around.

Jason groaned dramatically. "You can't believe how bored I am!"

Nico could, actually. He remembered the long days of dull staring and aimless wandering. He closed up the duffle of dirty clothes as Jason kept talking behind him, something about sky-diving and hang-gliding.

"Laundry?" Jason asked curiously.

Nico shrugged with one shoulder as he exited. Jason came right through the door as Nico shut it.

Nico followed the signs to the laundry room, where a sign on the door said to turn out the lights when people left to save energy with a smiling lightbulb someone had defaced to look like part of male anatomy. When he reached for the light switch, his sneaker splashed.

"Yuuugh-" The light came on as Nico looked down, and there was at least a good two to three inches of sludgy water on the floor. "God this place is a dump," Nico groaned.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. He floated easily over the water – annoying Nico – and called back, "Hey, all these machines seem to be busted. The sign on the wall here says to use a local Laundromat."

"Perfect." Nico pulled out his phone. "Does it say where?"

Jason didn't respond. It figures, the one time Nico wanted him to talk he wouldn't. "Hey!"

"I think I remember this," Jason said fuzzily, and flickered a bit. His clothes went to a swimsuit and back to his jeans and T-shirt.

"Didn't you stay here?" Nico asked.

"No…?" The uncertainty in Jason's voice piqued Nico's interest. He quickly scolded himself, thinking that getting more involved with the talking ghost was a bad idea. While Jason stood there, his glow weaker for a bit, Nico reasoned if he wanted to avoid more ghosts like Jason in the future, he should know how and why this kind of active ghost appeared.

"Ghosts leave imprints of their strongest memories," Nico called over to him. "Strong emotions get like…absorbed or something into the stuff around them. That's what makes the ghosts. So if you – whatever you are – is still here-"

Jason looked back at Nico, now annoyed himself. "I'm a person, Nico."

"Not anymore."

"I'm a person," Jason insisted. "I don't remember everything, but I remember. I can think. I exist, in whatever way this is. I can hear and talk, even if it's only to you. I am still here. I am a person."

Nico held his breath for a moment. He was certain if he approached, he would get hit with a wave of Jason's emotions overflowing from him. "I'm… I'm sorry."

Jason flickered again, to another set of clothes, then the tension ebbed. He looked back up with a crooked grin. "I know you didn't mean anything by it."

Nico wasn't so sure, but nodded. Jason rattled off an address he had to repeat so Nico could enter it into his phone. The route passed over an 'avoid' marker, so he made a mental note to cross to the opposite side of the street. "Let's go," Jason said amicably, and led the way out. Nico rolled his eyes.

The Laundromat was in an outdoor strip mall, with a grocery store and various other shops. Nico found that the place was pretty empty for midday, so he had the pick of machines. His clothes wound up in one machine together since they all fell in the category of 'darks', and whatever light clothing he owned had long turned a slightly dingy grey. Powdered detergent came from a small box in a vending machine and he spent the boring hour while they washed playing on his phone. Jason hovered over his shoulder with interest at first as he lined up plants to fight against zombies, but got bored and floated off somewhere.

When Nico switched over his clothes to the dryer, he decided to go buy a bottle of liquid detergent from the grocery store so he didn't have to buy the ridiculously priced boxed stuff again. He came across Jason in front of a pizza place, staring longingly.

"I miss pizza," Jason announced when he saw Nico approaching. "Then again, who wouldn't."

Nico's stomach tightened at the smell and he remembered another pizza, scavenged from a trash can, and the long miserable days afterward throwing up in a parking lot and the high fever. He mumbled some noise, and moved past the shop. Jason trailed after him.

He stopped himself outside a large shop where the windows were plastered with superhero posters and release dates, game tournament days listed on the door and a giant statue of the Hulk just inside. The new arrivals display listed a comic Nico remembered picking up from some discarded place at some point – still reeling from loss and betrayal – and being surprised to find a character coming out to his parents in that issue. It was… comforting. The comic had stayed in his bag that someone stole while he was sleeping one night.

"Are you into comics?" Jason asked when Nico moved closer to see what issue number it was. It had been a couple years already.

"Sort of," he answered vaguely. "I read them when I could." It was the same title, but looked like completely different art.

"Are you going to buy something?"

Nico shook his head. "It's just... Stuff. You don't get to keep any of it in the end, so why bother."

Jason stared at him. "Nico, you act like you're going to die tomorrow. What if - and silly notion, stop me if you've heard it - you live?"

Nico looked at him, trying to say no duh with his eyes.

"If all that life was about getting from point A to point B, what would be the purpose of it?" Jason motioned to the display. "If you don't enjoy it, enjoy the little things and the big things that make you happy, why would anybody bother living at all?"

Nico blanched. "For some people," he muttered. "I just... I don't have anywhere to keep anything. I lose everything."

"Aren't you moving in with Hazel and Frank? They're gonna notice if you bring just one bag."

Nico chewed on his lip. It was a thought he'd been avoiding. Soon he'd have a permanent room, and could actually keep some stuff instead of his usual bare bones lifestyle. He could keep something. Something could be his.

It was a... frightening concept.

"As your self-appointment life coach, you must go in and purchase no less than three comic books." Jason moved towards the door.

"A dead life coach." Nico rolled his eyes.

"The irony is staggering." Jason gave a sweep of his arm and bowed, kind of like a butler.

Nico sighed, but went in. He browsed for a moment, turning down the offer of assistance. He poked around the Marvel section while Jason floated around, spying over people's shoulders at what they were reading.

"Hey! There's an Adventure Time comic!" Jason announced. Someone was right beside Nico but didn't jump at his shout. Nico had to remind himself others didn't hear Jason. "I love Adventure Time. I didn't know there was a comic."

Nico raised an eyebrow without looking at Jason and mouthed 'Adventure Time' as a question.

"Don't judge, dude." Then he started singing, "Adventure Time, come on grab your friends-"

"Can I help you with anything?"

Nico did jump that time, nearly dropping the comic he was looking at. "Ah, no, I'm good."

"Young Avengers fan?" The clerk asked, a curly-headed blonde with a wrinkle to his eyes when he smiled. "Have you read the new series?"

Nico burned with embarrassment and couldn't meet his eyes. "I haven't even finished Children's Crusade." Staring at the guy's tanned arms was not a good back-up plan.

"Ohhhhh no spoilers then. You'll like the ending."

A pig beanie bounced off his head. "WILL!" A girl behind the counter shouted. "Stop harassing the new customers or they won't come back!"

"But he's short!" Will complained back in a playful tone. Oh god, Nico needed the shadows to swallow him. He tried to stuff the comic back in its spot.

"Hey you promised three comics, at least," Jason protested.

Nico fled back to the laundry mat where his dryer still had twenty minutes. He jumped up on top of it and buried his face in his knees.

"Nico?" Jason's voice was soft.

"Go away."

"Hey, I don't know what I did but I'm sorry. Talk to me?"

"NO!" Nico jerked his head up, and through Jason's shoulder saw a woman staring at him, the shirt she had been folding hanging in her hands. She shifted to block her child strapped in a car seat from Nico's view.

He couldn't take it. He jumped down, slammed the stop button on the dryer and grabbed his damp clothes. He shoved them into the duffle as quickly as possible and ran out the laundry mat's door.

"Nico!" Jason held out his arms as if to try and stop him but Nico just ran right through him. Confusion clouded his mind, mixed with concern and a little remorse. But mostly, Jason felt-

Protective.

Nico slowed to a walk, feeling a little sweaty from his short dash in the afternoon heat. He looked back at Jason.

"I'm sorry," Jason repeated.

"I know you are." Nico ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not your fault I'm a freak."

"You aren't a freak, Nico." Jason looked shocked. "You just see things differently. Maybe the rest of humanity is behind you, you're the next step – kinda like an X-man."

Nico gave a snort. "That was a pathetic attempt at cheering me up."

"I had to try."

There was silence for a moment, and Nico idly wondered if anyone saw him just standing here and staring at nothing.

"You look exhausted," Jason said. "Let's go home."

Nico hesitated a moment, then nodded and followed.


End file.
